Think Like an Agilist: Practicing Agile culture using difficult

scenariosJason Yip

jcyip@thoughtworks.comj.c.yip@computer.org

@jchyiphttp://jchyip.blogspot.com

Raise your hand if you believe culture is important for Agile

Think about what how you understand what is meant by “culture”.

Raise your hand once it’s clear in your head.

Keep your hand up if you believe that your understanding is the same as everyone in the room

“BUT we definitely

consider culture important”

“We don’t have a clear understanding of

culture.”

“We don’t have a shared understanding

of culture.”

Edgar Schein: 3 Levels of Culture

Artefacts

Espoused Values

Underlying Assumptio

ns

Visible organisational structures and processes

Strategies, goals, philosophies

Unconscious, taken for granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings

IF the foundations of “culture” are assumptions…

THEN in order to understand Agile culture, we need to understand the underlying assumptions of Agile

Think Like an Agilist is an approach I’ve created to expose how we think about a situation in order to allow us to practice Agile culture

Let’s try it!

Thinker:Respond to the scenario using think-aloud

Scribe (1 or more):Capture the thoughts; remind Thinker to think-aloud

Think Aloud Protocol

• Describe what you are thinking, feeling, noticing, questioning so that the Scribe can capture it• What do you notice? want? suspect?• What questions do you have?• What actions would you take?• What else is passing through your head?

“Oh yeah, I

actually considered

that”

“I would have thought of that”

But if you were thinking aloud, we can see that you didn’t think of that and didn’t consider it

Warning! Scenarios may will be more unfair than reality• No body language to read• No other background available• Not allowed to ask for

clarification (you can actually ask, but I likely won’t clarify)

Too hard!Too easy!

Can’t learn Can’t learn

Maximum learning(via failures)

SCENARIO ONE

Think Aloud Protocol Template

• Describe what you are thinking, feeling, noticing, questioning so that the Scribe can capture it• What do you notice? want? suspect?• What questions do you have?• What actions would you take?• What else is passing through your head?

DISCUSSION ONE

Assess the response

• What did you like about how the Thinker responded? What were the strengths in his / her response?

• What did you not like about how the Thinker responded? What were the weaknesses in his / her response?

• What do the Thinker’s responses communicate about his/her underlying assumptions?

END SCENARIO ONE

How many people learned something about their

underlying assumptions that they did not previously know?

How many people will approach new scenarios differently?

SCENARIO TWO

DISCUSSION TWO

Assess the response

• What did you like about how the Thinker responded? What were the strengths in his / her response?

• What did you not like about how the Thinker responded? What were the weaknesses in his / her response?

• What does the Thinker responses communicate about his/her underlying assumptions?

END SCENARIO TWO

Overall impressions?

Adjustments if you do this yourself• Use small groups (3 – 4)• Use your own scenarios• Focus on the specific culture you want

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Practice difficult scenarios (aka Think Like an Agilist)

(expose weakness in culture)

Agile simulation / project(get comfortable putting it all together)

Classroom study(basic concepts)

Consider how you think and what you believe (aka

foundation of culture) not just what you do (aka artefacts of culture)

THE END